SAN JOSE, Calif.—Soon to be launched, the “1,000 Hearts for 1,000 Minds” program seeks to engage talented business professionals in mentoring and tutoring local public school students. The program was initiated by San Jose councilmember Sam Liccardo in partnership with Silicon Valley Leadership Group president, Carl Guardino.
“We were talking about what kinds of things we could do in a world without money and with declining resources in the city and every other governmental organization. What could we do to leverage the resources that are out there,” explained Liccardo, referring to his discussion with former city councilmember David Pandori about the need to look outside the box in times of budget shortfalls.
Liccardo recalls that it was his early discussions with Pandori that lead to the emergence of the 1,000 Hearts for 1,000 Minds program. “David and I were brainstorming about this, and this was the idea that emerged,” he said. But Liccardo mentioned that his previous attempts at launching the idea failed before they even got off the ground.
It was actually a friendly bike ride a few months ago that set into motion the synergy between Liccardo and Guardino and helped the program get off the ground.
“So, our best ideas usually come when we are cycling together. And this seemed like a natural partnership that we think is going to pay huge dividends not only for the kids whose lives we have touched but to grow a culture of volunteers in our Valley among our very busy workers,” said avid cyclist Guardino in a phone interview with The Epoch Times.
With the San Jose City Council’s approval granted this week, the soft launch of the program will hit the web in a few weeks.
“Hearts are the adults and the minds are the kids,” explained Liccardo. He said that any company employee, nonprofit organization, or individual that has the heart to mentor or tutor public school students in grades K–8 can apply to enter the program and become a volunteer. The commitment can be set by the individual or organization but it is preferred to be at least one semester long and “one, one-and-a-half hours per week… [a] simple mentoring and tutoring session,” says Liccardo.
But long term commitments are what both Liccardo and Guardino are hoping for. “Obviously we would love to see year-long, multi-year-long partnerships,” said Liccardo.
From Guardino’s limited discussions with his contacts he says the program has been “universally embraced,” and he projects significant growth as early as 2012. “We hope and expect within a year-and-a-half, we are going to exponentially grow this effort,” commented Guardino.
Liccardo explained that struggling students will be the focus of the program. “We set out to target public school students and we are reaching out through all contacts in the council offices and school principals to identify those kids who most need some additional help.”
“Because many of the students that we really need to help are often students without a lot of adult relationships. Maybe it’s a single mom who’s raising kids, and often a single parent that has multiple jobs who does not have a lot of opportunity for interaction. So the ability to be able to develop relationships between many of the kids we serve and the employees of our great Valley employers is really the heart of this venture,” added Liccardo.
The program will first focus on 1,000 San Jose public school students and match them with 1,000 volunteer mentors and build up momentum into the fall semester when students will most need their help.
Guardino explained that each volunteer will be properly vetted and fingerprinted and will go through standard background checks before being selected. “We don’t want to see a single headline of anyone who is in the program who is inappropriate for the program,” he said.
After the soft launch in a few weeks, each council office along with the Silicon Valley Leadership Group will be reaching out to gather the hearts of the program.
“Our role is to engage as many of our 340 member companies as we can to send out the message in a way that fits each of their individual corporate cultures… encouraging their local employees” to get involved in volunteering, explained Guardino about his plans for the program.
He talked about the positive impact female executives can make on each child in the program. “The Leadership Group has a network of more than 350 women executives with the tech world alone, VP and above. So we are really stressing among them to tutor and mentor young ladies and girls. So that girls see that ‘Wow’ that’s somebody from my gender and now they are the VP of X, Y, or Z company, or director or senior director of a company.”
In fact Guardino has already started the program himself at Horace Mann Elementary in downtown San Jose. “I started my tutoring three weeks ago with a lovely second grader… And it’s just immensely rewarding helping her reading and comprehension skills,” he said.
In the end, Guardino explains that it can also be the little students that are helping the professionals too. “Volunteering helps others, but the volunteer gets that much, if not more out of it,” said Guardino while reflecting on his experiences doing volunteer work.
For more information about the 1,000 Hearts for 1,000 Minds program please visit the office of Councilmember Sam Liccardo at: www.sanjoseca.gov/district3/
“We were talking about what kinds of things we could do in a world without money and with declining resources in the city and every other governmental organization. What could we do to leverage the resources that are out there,” explained Liccardo, referring to his discussion with former city councilmember David Pandori about the need to look outside the box in times of budget shortfalls.
Liccardo recalls that it was his early discussions with Pandori that lead to the emergence of the 1,000 Hearts for 1,000 Minds program. “David and I were brainstorming about this, and this was the idea that emerged,” he said. But Liccardo mentioned that his previous attempts at launching the idea failed before they even got off the ground.
It was actually a friendly bike ride a few months ago that set into motion the synergy between Liccardo and Guardino and helped the program get off the ground.
“So, our best ideas usually come when we are cycling together. And this seemed like a natural partnership that we think is going to pay huge dividends not only for the kids whose lives we have touched but to grow a culture of volunteers in our Valley among our very busy workers,” said avid cyclist Guardino in a phone interview with The Epoch Times.
With the San Jose City Council’s approval granted this week, the soft launch of the program will hit the web in a few weeks.
How the Program Works
“Hearts are the adults and the minds are the kids,” explained Liccardo. He said that any company employee, nonprofit organization, or individual that has the heart to mentor or tutor public school students in grades K–8 can apply to enter the program and become a volunteer. The commitment can be set by the individual or organization but it is preferred to be at least one semester long and “one, one-and-a-half hours per week… [a] simple mentoring and tutoring session,” says Liccardo.
But long term commitments are what both Liccardo and Guardino are hoping for. “Obviously we would love to see year-long, multi-year-long partnerships,” said Liccardo.
From Guardino’s limited discussions with his contacts he says the program has been “universally embraced,” and he projects significant growth as early as 2012. “We hope and expect within a year-and-a-half, we are going to exponentially grow this effort,” commented Guardino.
Liccardo explained that struggling students will be the focus of the program. “We set out to target public school students and we are reaching out through all contacts in the council offices and school principals to identify those kids who most need some additional help.”
“Because many of the students that we really need to help are often students without a lot of adult relationships. Maybe it’s a single mom who’s raising kids, and often a single parent that has multiple jobs who does not have a lot of opportunity for interaction. So the ability to be able to develop relationships between many of the kids we serve and the employees of our great Valley employers is really the heart of this venture,” added Liccardo.
The program will first focus on 1,000 San Jose public school students and match them with 1,000 volunteer mentors and build up momentum into the fall semester when students will most need their help.
Guardino explained that each volunteer will be properly vetted and fingerprinted and will go through standard background checks before being selected. “We don’t want to see a single headline of anyone who is in the program who is inappropriate for the program,” he said.
After the soft launch in a few weeks, each council office along with the Silicon Valley Leadership Group will be reaching out to gather the hearts of the program.
“Our role is to engage as many of our 340 member companies as we can to send out the message in a way that fits each of their individual corporate cultures… encouraging their local employees” to get involved in volunteering, explained Guardino about his plans for the program.
He talked about the positive impact female executives can make on each child in the program. “The Leadership Group has a network of more than 350 women executives with the tech world alone, VP and above. So we are really stressing among them to tutor and mentor young ladies and girls. So that girls see that ‘Wow’ that’s somebody from my gender and now they are the VP of X, Y, or Z company, or director or senior director of a company.”
In fact Guardino has already started the program himself at Horace Mann Elementary in downtown San Jose. “I started my tutoring three weeks ago with a lovely second grader… And it’s just immensely rewarding helping her reading and comprehension skills,” he said.
In the end, Guardino explains that it can also be the little students that are helping the professionals too. “Volunteering helps others, but the volunteer gets that much, if not more out of it,” said Guardino while reflecting on his experiences doing volunteer work.
For more information about the 1,000 Hearts for 1,000 Minds program please visit the office of Councilmember Sam Liccardo at: www.sanjoseca.gov/district3/
